Blazers force Game 6 with third period surge

Thunderbirds still lead Western Conference final 3-2

Will Blazers HC/GM Shaun Clouston guide a team to a 3-1 series rally?

The Kamloops Blazers pre-empted any celebration plans the Seattle Thunderbirds and their fans may have had.

On Saturday at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., the host Thunderbirds went into Game 5 of the WHL’s Western Conference Championship Series looking to close out the best-of-seven set. The visitors played the role of spoiler.

The two sides were locked in a 1-1 draw after 40 minutes, and the Blazers opened the third scoring three times in the first 5:31 of the frame to jump ahead 4-1. The Thunderbirds answered back scoring once 18 seconds after that surge, but the hosts wouldn’t score any more to the disappointment to most of the 5,063 spectators in attendance.

The Blazers made the 4-2 score hold up as the final outcome of the contest to cut the Thunderbirds lead in the series to 3-2. With the win, the Blazers force the series to go to a Game 6 that will be held on Monday at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops at 7 p.m. local time.

If the Blazer are able to win Game 6, that will force a series deciding Game 7 to be held on Tuesday back at the Accesso ShoWare Center at 7 p.m. local time. Last year, these two clubs went to a series deciding Game 7 in the Western Conference final that was won 3-2 by the Thunderbirds in Kamloops. The Thunderbirds trailed that series 3-2 before rallying to take the set in Game 7.

Of course, the Blazers are trying to rally back from a 3-1 series deficit to take the Western Conference final, and Shaun Clouston, who is the team’s head coach and general manager has experience with making a 3-1 series comeback.

Back in the 2014 WHL Playoffs, Clouston was the head coach and general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers when they fell behind the Cranbrook, B.C., based Kootenay Ice 3-1 in a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Tigers roared back for three straight wins to take the set 4-3 for the only 3-1 series comeback to date in team history.

Medicine Hat would proceed to bow out in the Eastern Conference final in five games to the eventual WHL and Memorial Cup champion Edmonton Oil Kings. Clouston joined the Blazers organization on June 17, 2019. The Ice moved from Cranbrook to Winnipeg, Man., before the start of the 2019-20 campaign.

Jared Davidson is Seattle’s career leader in post-season goals.

As for Saturday’s encounter between the Blazers and Thunderbirds, Blazers left-winger Matthew Seminoff scored his second of the contest 43 seconds into the third to give the visitors a 2-1 edge with a shot from the front of the net on a delayed penalty call. Seminoff converted a nice backhand pass that came from the left side of the Seattle goal from left-winger Caedan Bankier.

Just 23 seconds later, the Blazers pushed their lead out to 3-1 thanks in part to an error by Thunderbirds star goaltender Thomas Milic. Blazers import centre Jakub Demek was cruising around behind the Seattle net, and Milic was expecting a wraparound and shuffled from the left post to hug the right post of his goal.

Demek centred the puck just before passing the left post to Blazers star 20-year-old centre Ryan Hofer, who was about three feet out front of the left post. Hofer fired one shot off the post before putting his own rebound into an empty cage to give the visitors their two-goal advantage.

At the 5:31 mark of the third, the Thunderbirds were working on the power play, but the Blazers were able to break into the Seattle zone on a two-on-one break. Hofer jetted down the right wing, deked around Thunderbirds star defenceman Kevin Korchinski and snapped home a shot for his second tally of the contest that put the Blazers up 4-1.

Just 17 seconds later, Thunderbirds star left-winger Reid Schaefer scored on that same power play to cut the Blazers lead to 4-2. Seattle wasn’t able to get any closer even with having the benefit of being on the power play for the final 1:54 of the third including being down two men for a short span of 16 seconds.

The teams played through a scoreless opening frame with the Blazers holding a 12-7 edge in shots on goal.

At the 3:06 mark of the third, Thunderbirds star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, who turned 21-years-old in January, appeared to have scored the first goal of the contest. The goal went to a video review, and it was disallowed after video determined there was a hand pass made by Thunderbirds captain Lucas Ciona in the puck possession sequence that led to Crnkovic’s tally.

Matthew Seminoff

The Thunderbirds did get the first goal of the contest as 20-year-old star centre Jared Davidson scored his ninth of the post-season to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. The tally was Davidson’s 22^nd career post-season goal with the Thunderbirds, which set a new team record. The old mark of 21 goals was held by centre Scott Eansor, who played for the Thunderbirds from 2013 to 2017 helping them win a WHL title in 2017.

Davidson has 22 goals and 26 assists in 41 career post-season games with the Thunderbirds.

With four minutes remaining in the second, Seminoff sniped home his first goal of the contest from inside the right faceoff circle to even the score at 1-1. That set the stage for the dramatics in the third.

Dylan Ernst stopped 36 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blazers. Milic turned away 26 shots to take the setback in net for the Thunderbirds.

Offensive-defenceman Jeremy Hanzel had a pair of assists for the Thunderbirds.

The series between the Thunderbirds and Blazers was expected to be a heavyweight battle.

The Thunderbirds topped the Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record. The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records.

The Blazers finished second overall in the Western Conference and third overall in the WHL regular season with a 48-13-4-3 mark. The B.C. Division champions were rated ninth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

Seattle’s roster contains 10 players who have been drafted by NHL teams, while Kamloops has nine NHL drafted players on its roster. The Thunderbirds have seven players who participated in the last world juniors, and the Blazers have three players who took part in this past world juniors.

Reid Schaefer scored for the Thunderbirds on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds were without standout centre Jordan Gustafson for a third straight game. It is suspected Gustafson was injured as part of the celebration for Hanzel’s overtime winner in Game 2 of the series claimed by the Thunderbirds 4-3. The Blazers were without defenceman Ryan Michael.

Kamloops rearguard Logan Bairos returned to action after missing three games due to injury, and blue-liner Ryan Nolan was healthy scratched to allow Bairos to return to the Blazers lineup.

The winner of the series between the Thunderbirds and Blazers advances to face the Winnipeg Ice in the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series. The Ice swept the Saskatoon Blades 4-0 in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship Series.

Winnipeg topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

The Ice are likely watching the Western Conference final intently and have to enjoy the fact the Blazers and Thunderbirds are going to a Game 6. The winner if the Western Conference title series will have reduced rest before playing the WHL final.

The Ice will host Game 1 of the WHL final on Friday at 7 p.m. local time at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

Winnipeg would gain a further bonus of the Blazers do in fact rally to win the Western Conference final. The Blazers host the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion from May 26 to June 4 at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, so the WHL’s Eastern Conference Champion would make that event, if Kamloops makes the WHL final. In that scenario, the Ice would earn a berth to the Memorial Cup.

Ryan Hofer

For now, the Blazers are hoping to play in the third series in these WHL Playoffs that goes to seven games, and the Thunderbirds will do what they can to avoid a winner takes all contest.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Wheat Kings, Blades, Ice in final sprint for Subway Cup

WHL campaign to conclude at end of regular season

The Wheat Kings do their traditional head bump goal celebration.

For a second straight year, the WHL won’t be handing out the Ed Chynoweth Cup to a league champion.

On Monday, the major junior circuit announced its 2020-21 campaign will officially come to an end at the conclusion of its abbreviated regular season. The decision was made due to ongoing challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which include navigating public health orders and restrictions on travel across international and provincial borders.

In the 2020-21 campaign, each team is playing a shortened 24-game regular season which is being held for developmental purposes. Due to some teams experiencing positive COVID-19 tests, nine out of 10 clubs in the B.C. and Central Division will play campaigns that are shorter than 24 games.

The Kelowna Rockets will play an even shorter season due to the fact they had nine games postponed after team activities were suspended due to a coronavirus outbreak. On Wednesday, the WHL announced only one of those contest will be made up meaning the Rockets will play a 16 game regular season.

The B.C. Division’s other four teams in the Kamloops Blazers, Prince George Cougars, Vancouver Giants and Victoria Royals will all play 22-games each.

On Wednesday, the Calgary Hitmen were cleared to return to play after undergoing a 14-day isolation period and a halt of team activities due to a positive COVID-19 test. All members of the Hitmen cohort have tested negative for COVID-19 in the latest round of testing.

The Hitmen had six games postponed. After the WHL announced rescheduled games on Wednesday, the Hitmen learned they will be able to make up three of their lost games meaning they will play 21 regular season contests.

The Hitmen return to play Friday, when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Hurricanes will still get all 24 of their regular season games in.

The Edmonton Oil Kings, Medicine Hat Tigers and Red Deer Rebels will play 23 regular season games each.

The Tri-City Americans have been sidelined due to a positive COVID-19, and they have had five games postponed. No word has been mentioned on dates to make those games up, which means teams in the B.C. Division might not play a 24-game slate as well.

The WHL will still crown champions in each division.

For the East Division, that means the Brandon Wheat Kings, Saskatoon Blades and Winnipeg Ice are engaging in a final sprint for first place and the right to win the Subway Cup. Subway is sponsoring the East Division bubble at the Brandt Centre in Regina and championship trophy that will be given to the first place team.

The Blades have enjoyed a number of wins in the Regina bubble.

The seven clubs in the bubble in Regina have not had their schedules disrupted due to positive COVID-19 tests.

Currently, the Brandon Wheat Kings have the inside track to first place extending their current winning streak to five games with their 6-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday.

Nolan Ritchie scored twice for the Wheat Kings, while Lynden McCallum, Rylan Thiessen, Brett Hyland and Vincent Iorio all had singles. Matthew Ward replied with a single for the Broncos.

Ethan Kruger made 17 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Wheat Kings. Isaac Poulter turned away 27 shots to take the loss in goal for the Broncos (4-16-1).

The Wheat Kings top the East Division with a 16-3-2 record. Brandon will lock up first place if it wins its final three straight games.

The idle Saskatoon Blades, who have a 14-3-2-1 record, sit three points behind the Wheat Kings for top spot with one game in hand.

The Winnipeg Ice also sit three points behind the Wheat Kings after posting a 6-5 overtime victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Wednesday.

Jakin Smallwood netted the winner for the Ice at the 1:46 mark of the extra session. It was his second tally of the contest.

Peyton Krebs and Skyler Bruce each scored twice for the Ice. 

Cade Hayes led the Warriors with a pair of goals and an assist. Riley Krane, Jagger Firkus and Daemon Hunt all had singles for Moose Jaw.

Brayden Yager picked up a pair of assists for the Warriors, while Krane had a helper to go with his goal.

Carl Stankowski made 24 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ice. Boston Bilous turned away 37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Warriors (8-11-2).

The Ice improved to 15-5-1 with the win. They are playing their second campaign as the Winnipeg Ice after moving out of Cranbrook, B.C., following the 2018-19 campaign. The franchise was known as the Kootenay Ice, when it was located in Cranbrook.

The Blades have a game in hand on the Ice.

Saskatoon will face Winnipeg on Friday and go at it with Brandon on April 28.

The Regina Pats (8-9-2-1) Warriors and Prince Albert Raiders (7-10-2-1) will jockey for fourth, fifth and sixth place in the Division. The Broncos are locked into finish in the basement of the East Division.

Teams in the B.C. Division will play for the RE/MAX Cup sponsored championship trophy. Due to the fact teams in the B.C. and Central Divisions won’t play an equal amount of games, the WHL hasn’t announced how it plans to crown champions in those divisions.

The WHL also announced on Monday the season end WHL awards will recognize individual award winners from each division as opposed to the traditional celebration of conference-based award winners.

Peyton Krebs in action for the Ice franchise in November of 2018.

The WHL Awards, which will be celebrated digitally following the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign, will culminate with honourees in each major awards category on a league-wide basis.

While the WHL did valiant work to ensure its member teams got on the ice, the major circuit, which plays under the CHL umbrella, has to be thankful luck fell its way too.

On Tuesday, the OHL cancelled its entire 2020-21 campaign without being able to play a single game. The COVID-19 pandemic never subsided enough in Ontario to create a situation for the OHL to get back on the ice.

Desjardins recaptures Tigers career wins record

Willie Desjardins works the Tigers bench in December of 2019.

Willie Desjardins is once again the all-time leader in career regular season head coaching wins for the Medicine Hat Tigers.

On Monday, the Tigers slipped past the visiting Red Deer Rebels 3-2 at Co-op Place. That victory marked the 376^th career regular season win for Desjardins as the Tigers head coach. The Climax, Sask., product is also the team’s general manager.

Desjardins collected his wins serving as the Tigers head coach from 2002-10 and since returning to the team in 2019.

Desjardins surpassed the 375 wins put up by Shaun Clouston, who served as an assistant and then associate coach with Desjardins from 2003 to 2010. Desjardins previously held the Tigers career record for regular season coaching win before Clouston became the team’s head coach.

Clouston picked up his initial head coaching wins with the Tigers from 2008 to 2010, when Desjardins was away involved with coaching duties with Canada’s world junior team. Clouston picked up the bulk of his wins serving as the Tigers head coach from 2010 to 2019 along with becoming the team’s general manager from 2012 to 2019.

Clouston was released from the Tigers following the 2018-19 season to allow Desjardins to return to the roles of head coach and general manager. Clouston has served as the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers since the split with the Tigers.

Desjardins’ career record with the Tigers sits at 376-198-64 with the third column accounting for ties, overtime losses and shootout losses. Clouston’s career record behind the Tigers bench is 375-241-46.

In the Tigers win on Monday over the Rebels, Medicine Hat never trailed in the contest getting singles from Ryan Chyzowski, Rhett Parsons and Oren Shtrom.

The Rebels replied with singles coming off the sticks of Dallon Melin and Chris Douglas.

Beckett Langkow made 27 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers (12-3-0-1). Chase Coward turned away 32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Rebels (2-15-2).

“It’s been an honour to be part of such a great organization,” said Desjardins to Adam Jones of TigersHockey.com. “I’d like to thank (Tigers owners) Darrell and Brent Maser for their support.

“I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by some great people over the years, and because of that, we’ve had some success. The players win the games. Without their hard work and determination, we wouldn’t be here.”

The Tigers return to action on Thursday, when they travel to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings.

Marleau tops NHL career regular season games list

A Patrick Marleau card.

It seems fitting that a special NHL milestone moment would go to Patrick Marleau

Taking the opening faceoff on right wing for the San Jose Sharks on Monday against the Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas, Nevada, Marleau became the NHL’s all-time leader in career regular season games played at 1,768 when the puck dropped.

The Aneroid, Sask., product, who is playing in his 23^rd NHL season, broke a record that was viewed at one time to be untouchable.

The previous mark of 1,767 career regular season games was held by the iconic “Mr. Hockey” in Gordie Howe, who was born in Floral, Sask., and raised in Saskatoon. The late Howe played 25 seasons for the Detroit Red Wings from 1946 to 1971.

He helped the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955.

Howe skated in one final NHL campaign in 1979-80 for the Hartford Whalers playing in all of the Whalers 80 regular season games turning 52-years-old near the end of that season. In his 1767 career NHL regular season games, Howe piled up 801 goals and 1,049 assists for 1,850 points.

On top of his time in the NHL, Howe played six campaigns in the now defunct World Hockey Association with the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers from 1973 to 1979. During those six seasons, Howe appeared in 419 regular season games posting 174 goals and 334 assists for 508 points.

He helped the Aeros win the Avco Cup as WHA champions in 1974 and 1975.

During the Sharks game on Monday, Marleau wasn’t able to pick any points as the Golden Knights posted a 3-2 victory after a tiebreaking shootout. Marleau was given a chance to try and score in the tiebreaking shootout, but he was unsuccessful.

He received a salute from both team following the game.

The 41-year-old Marleau has always carried himself with dignity and class. When Howe’s NHL record for career regular season games played fell, it was fitting that Marleau was the one to do it.

Before breaking into the NHL, Marleau played two seasons in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds from 1995 to 1997 appearing in 143 regular season games collecting 83 goals and 116 assists for 199 points.

After the Sharks 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights in Las Vegas on Wednesday where Marleau picked up an assist, he has appeared in 1769 regular season games posting 566 goals and 631 assists for 1,197 points.

CFL delays start of season to August 5

Andrew Harris rumbles up field for the Bombers in 2017.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still delivering huge hits to the CFL.

On Wednesday, the CFL announced it will be delaying the start of its 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Training camps were expected to open in the middle of May and the first exhibition game was set for May 23.

Originally, the league planned to kick off the regular season on June 10, where each club would play a standard 18-game regular season campaign.

Now the CFL is targeting Aug. 5 for the start of the circuit’s regular season, where each club will play 14 regular season games each. The Grey Cup is being rescheduled for Dec. 12 as opposed to Nov. 21.

The CFL was unable to get a season off the ground in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last CFL game was played on November 24, 2019 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alta., and saw the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stomp the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 to win the Grey Cup.

In a released statement, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said the Aug. 5 date is a target date, because the league’s plans are subject to change due to the state of COVID-19 across the country.

In order to play on Aug. 5, Ambrosie said the CFL would need approval from public health officials across Canada of the circuit’s plans for protecting players, coaches and fans. The commissioner added the CFL would need permission from governments to host a significant number of fans in the stands in a significant number of venues at the start of the season and the rest of the venues soon after that.

Ambrosie said the CFL has contingency plans in place in case factors beyond the league’s control delay the start of the season beyond Aug. 5.

“The bottom line is we are optimistic we will have a season in 2021, culminating in a great Grey Cup,” said Ambrosie in a statement. “Everyone who loves the CFL can help us and their communities.

“Please, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. And please follow your local public health guidelines on measures including wearing a mask and social distancing.”

There was no work on where the CFL’s talks on working in partnership with the XFL were at. There was no mention about the CFL’s efforts to secure federal government funding in order to play in 2021.

The CFL failed to get government grants that would allow the circuit to hit the field in 2020.

Once again, CFL fans have to continue to hurry up wait to see if the league they love will be back in 2021.

Government of Nova Scotia nixes women’s hockey worlds

The Government of Nova Scotia dropped the axe on the women’s world hockey championship.

On Wednesday, Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin withdrew permission for the 11-day tournament citing concerns over increasing COVID-19 numbers and the circulation of COVID-19 variants.

Nova Scotia imposed new travel restrictions this week barring people from outside the province from entering unless travel is essential or the travels are permanent residents of Nova Scotia. People from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador are exempted from the ban, which goes into effect at 8 a.m. Thursday Nova Scotia time.

The International Ice Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada were informed early Wednesday morning that the event was called off. Women’s worlds were scheduled to be held May 6 to 16 in Halifax and Truno, N.S.

Hockey Canada was holding its selection camp for the women’s worlds in Halifax, and Wednesday was supposed to be the final day of that camp. An intrasquad game that was supposed to close the camp on Wednesday afternoon ultimately wasn’t held.

Saskatoon products Emily Clark and Sophie Shirley were taking part in the selection camp.

The 2021 women’s worlds were first slated to be held in April but were pushed back to the May 6 to 16 dates before being cancelled. They were also supposed to be held in Halifax and Truno in March of 2020 before being called off due to COVID-19 concerns.

The IIHF will work with Hockey Canada told a women’s worlds later in 2021 but no commitment was made Wednesday to hold it in Nova Scotia.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Feeling sad over moments missed due to COVID-19

The Rebels were robbed from making memories due to COVID-19.

    “What might have been?”

    It is a question I’ve asked myself over the course of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic after all the shutdowns started to happen in North America on March 11. I keep thinking about how many special moments people were robbed of having due to the cancellations that occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    I know there will be people out there that this will amount to gripping over trivial matters and that saving lives is the most important objective people should have on their minds.

    With that noted, I can still exercise the freedom to feel sad that a lot of people missed out on a lot of special great experience moments. In a lot of cases, these were the types of moments could become once in a lifetime things resulting in good memories people carried with themselves forever.

The Bears lost the chance to host the Esso Cup due to COVID-19.

    Believe it or not, the first group that crosses my mind is the Regina Rebels female midget AAA hockey team. I liked the makeup of that team.

    I’ve followed the exploits of their core group of players over the last couple of seasons, and I loved their spunk, drive and their good type of self-confidence. They came off with the image of being a personable bunch and kick-ass at the same time.

    That was pretty cool to see from a group of teenaged gals ranging in age from 14 to 18. It is easy to encounter gals in that age group and even women who have played through five seasons of post-secondary hockey that are not that self-assured, are insecure and a have a lot of doubts.

COVID-19 cost Shaun Clouston and the Blazers a playoff run.

    The Rebels came off as powerful. In March of 2019, they made it to the best-of-five Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League championship series and were swept 3-0 by a powerful Saskatoon Stars side, who won the SFMAAAHL title for the fourth time in five seasons. The Stars advanced to the Esso Cup female midget AAA national championship tournament after each of those SFMAAAHL title wins.

    Despite being swept, the Rebels believed they could beat the Stars and win that series. They battled in every one of those games.

    This past season, the Rebels returned most of their lineup from the 2018-19 campaign. They finished first in the 2019-20 SFMAAAHL regular season standings with a 27-2-1 record.

The Tigers had their 50th season cut short by COVID-19.

    The SFMAAAHL playoffs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    I felt the Rebels were robbed of a playoff run that could have seen them win the SFMAAAHL and maybe even the Esso Cup, which was slated to be held in April in Prince Albert. I felt the Rebels deserved those opportunities, and they can’t get those moments in time back ever again.

    Speaking of female midget AAA hockey teams, I felt bad the Prince Albert Northern Bears were robbed of their chance to host the Esso Cup nationals. The Bears have been one of the top teams in the SFMAAAHL since the league began back in the 2006-07 campaign.

The Raiders promising campaign was cut down by COVID-19.

    The Esso Cup was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Bears deserved to host that national championship tournament. I felt bad that opportunity was taken from them.

    I felt bad the COVID-19 pandemic cost Shaun Clouston the chance to guide the Kamloops Blazers through the WHL playoffs as head coach. “Clouey” is an old pal from my Medicine Hat days, and I believed he had a great opportunity to enjoy something special with the Blazers.

    In his first year in Kamloops, the Blazers were able to lock away first place in the B.C. Division with a 41-18-3-1 record before the last bit of the WHL regular season was called off.

    When Clouston was the head coach and general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers, I always felt he never got the most fair shake due to following Willie Desjardins in both those roles.

    I thought the Blazers were going to have a great run and could have potentially played in the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup, which was being hosted in Kelowna. During that type of run, I felt that Clouston would have received the credit he deserved for being a good coach and a moment he deserve too.

The Blades potential was cut shorts due to COVID-19.

    COVID-19 stole that opportunity.

    Of course, Desjardins returned to Medicine Hat to once again become the Tigers head coach and general manager. The Tigers were having a great campaign posting a 41-19-2-1 record in their 50^th season.

    They could have had a long run. COVID-19 stole away any memorable moments there.

Same goes for the defending WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders. They were leading the East Division with a 36-18-6-4 record.

    “Hockey Town North” was getting stoked for another long playoff run. COVID-19 took those moments away.

COVID-19 robbed Max Martin and all WHL overagers of a good farewell.

    Sounds crazy, but I thought the Saskatoon Blades could have surprised some team. They had posted a 34-24-2-3 record and were on a three-game winning streak when the WHL campaign was halted.

    Their reloading team was starting to round into form. Any great memories they could have made were taken away by COVID-19.

    In the junior hockey ranks, I felt bad the overagers couldn’t enjoy one last hurrah in the centres they were playing in.

    In U Sports, I felt sad the national championship tournament for men’s and women’s hockey and men’s and women’s volleyball couldn’t be completed.

COVID-19 stole a WWCFL season from the Valkyries.

    I feel bad for the Saskatoon Valkyries who won’t be able to embark on a quest to defend their Western Women’s Canadian Football League title this season. They are a great bunch to be around.

    It is sad the teams in the WWCFL couldn’t celebrate this circuit’s 10^th season this year.

    I felt bad for sports teams that couldn’t gather one last time for a post-season function before everyone goes their separate ways.

    Away from sports, I felt sad the Juno Awards couldn’t be held in Saskatoon.

    I feel sad for the high school graduates this year, who won’t get to enjoy real graduation festivities. The dressing up part for the grads is a huge thing, and it is one of those great shared community experiences all walks of life share in.

High school grads will have this moment taken away by COVID-19.

    I believe high school graduation is a bigger deal than when I graduated from high school some time back. The current grads were robbed by COVID-19.

    There are so many lost experiences that can be lamented due to COVID-19.

    While they may seem trivial to some, I believe it is alright to take time to feel bad about the moments that were lost.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Time for a short-term hiatus

I am not packing it in, just taking a break

I enjoy getting to events like Huskies hockey, but it is break time for me.

    It is break time for yours truly when it comes to writing this blog.
    The main reason for taking a break is because I have never taken a hiatus from writing this blog since starting it up on August 29, 2014. I usually try to have at most six off days between posts.

    Starting on Monday, my plan is to go 18 consecutive days without writing a post on this blog. You all will probably have a laugh for my return date.

    I plan to be back on here on Jan 24, when the Medicine Hat Tigers arrive in Saskatoon to face the host Blades in a WHL regular season contest. I figured that would be the best time to get back at it, when the Tigers are in “The Bridge City.”

    Of course, I have lots of links to the Tigers due to covering them as a beat writer for 10 seasons from 2004 to 2014 for the Medicine Hat News.

    My break is also a smart one in the veteran move department, because that means I get to avoid dealing with the WHL trade deadline.

    Believe it or not, I am not a big WHL trade deadline fan. That goes back to my time in the Hat.

I plan to post again when Cole Sillinger and the Tigers come to town.

    While I always felt like I did a good job covering items on the trade deadline front, I never liked saying farewell to players and watching them leave town on a personal front.

    The guys that came through the Tigers were all good, and you got to know them fairly well. It made the departures always feel tough.

    I actually started to formulate the plan for taking a break, when I was creating my “Top 10 cool things I saw in 2019” post.

    I figured there would never be a truly perfect time to take a break. With that said, my annual memories post was completed, so it felt the timing was more ideal once that was done.

    On the hockey front, that is a sport that seemingly has something happening all through the year. I figured it would be good to take a break now before all the playoff cycles started.

    I enjoyed being at the rinks all through December after I wrote my “I’m exhausted” post.

    I was happy covering the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey games at Merlis Belsher Place on Friday and Saturday.

Clashes between the Blades and Raiders are always a fun time.

    It always makes it worthwhile to see the likes of Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, Medicine Hat Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins, Kamloops Blazers head coach Shaun Clouston, Saskatoon Blades associate coach Ryan Marsh and Huskies men’s hockey team head coach Dave Adolph at the rinks.

    I was pumped to see Canada down Russia 4-3 at the world junior hockey championships in Ostrava in the Czech Republic to win the gold medal on television today. Blades head coach Mitch Love was an assistant coach for Canada.

    Love oversaw the Canadian power play, which went 14-of-34 for a 41.2 per cent success rate.

    More importantly, I know how much pressure there is for anyone associated with the Canadian team to win gold at that event, so I was happy to see Love would get to enjoy a big high.

Blades HC Mitch Love won a world juniors gold medal on Sunday.

    The break will allow me to get my feet wet on some new normals.

    On Friday, I agreed to become the communications coordinator for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I’ve already started to create some social media posts.

    The Gordie Howe Sports Complex is just a 10-minute drive from my residence, and I can even bike there in summer. My mind has been flooded with ideas of what I want to do, and it is getting cluttered.

    Needless to say, I want to get used to ins and outs there and get organized.

    When I accepted the spot, I had a mixture of being nervous and being pumped, so I believe this means this will be a good thing.

    I am also trying to help out a couple of old friends in Dan Senick and Cam Hutchinson as they go full steam ahead with running The Davidson Leader weekly paper. I am not going to be able to help out as much as they originally hoped, but I will still try to be a contributor.

    I am working on a couple of articles for them over the next two days. I am planning to be at one of the U Sports women’s hockey games on either Friday or Saturday night, when the Huskies host the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

I will be around the Gordie Howe Sports Complex a little more often.

    I am hoping to catch up with a player who is very popular in the area The Davidson Leader serves and has been a popular subject for page views on this blog. We will see how the week plays out first.

    I might still drop in on some WHL games just to scout them. I haven’t done that since the 2016-17 campaign, and it helps me see the game in a different light.

    I find it hard to just go to a WHL game just to watch it unless I am involved somehow.

    Away from sports, I might be able to take in things like a Tuesday night movie. I haven’t been able to do that for some time.

    The sports scene was busy today. Out in Edmonton, Alta., the Blades nearly rallied back past the host Oil Kings before falling 4-3. The Oil Kings lead the WHL standings with a 27-7-5-2 mark.

    Out in Winnipeg, Man., the defending WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders downed the host Ice 5-3. The Raiders had lost seven times in regulation and once in extra time in eight outings before Sunday’s win.
    The Raiders are 21-14-4-1 and the Blades are 18-17-1-2. Both should be in the post-season picture.

The Hilltops celebrate winning the Canadian Bowl in Nov. 2018.

    On the SFMAAAHL front, the Prince Albert Northern Bears took two of three games against the visiting Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats at the Art Hauser Centre over the last three days.

    The Bears won 5-4 and 3-2 respectively on Friday and Saturday. The Wildcats took Sunday’s clash 3-0.

    At Merlis, the Saskatoon Contacts fell 5-4 to the Tisdale Trojans in SMAAAHL action on Sunday.

    There seems to always be something happening.

    One of the tough things I find when it comes to covering the local, provincial and WHL sports scenes is you are always taking from Peter to pay Paul when decisions are made about what events you will work.

    As soon as you do one thing, you are leaving something else out. There are only so many hours in the day.

    In the current climate, it always feels like you are doing a disservice to someone.

I will return to the rinks and the SaskTel Centre press box before you know it.

    For now, I am not going to let any of those matters enter my mind. It is break time, but it is not pack it in time.

    You will still see me around, and I will be back on this blog. It isn’t going anywhere.
    Plus, I would miss seeing Saskatoon Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk too much, if I wasn’t in the press box for Blades games.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Clouston charges full steam ahead with Blazers

Blazers head coach Shaun Clouston checks out his notepad.

    Shaun Clouston has always looked towards the opportunity that lies ahead.

    After he was released as head coach and general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers on May 30 so the Tigers could bring back Willie Desjardins into both roles one day later, Clouston wasn’t sitting on the outside looking in for long as far as the WHL was concerned.

    On June 17, the 51-year-old Viking, Alta., product was hired as the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers. Clouston found himself taking over a team that was one the rise and appeared to be nearing a position to take off.

    Last season, the Blazers finished locked in a tie for the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Western Conference with the Kelowna Rockets as both teams sported identical 28-32-6-2 records.

    The Blazers proceeded to down the Rockets 5-1 in a standings tiebreaker game in Kamloops. After getting passed the Rockets, the Blazers put up a fight before falling 4-2 in a best-of-seven first round playoff series to the Victoria Royals.

The Blazers celebrate a goal from Daylan Kuefler, centre.

    Serge Lajoie, who was the Blazers head coach, mutually parted ways with the club on April 11, which created a head coaching vacancy.

    Clouston stepped into that role and there has been no looking back.

    On Friday before 3,517 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blazers downed the host Saskatoon Blades 5-2 in a WHL regular season contest.

    That win allowed the Blazers to improve to 20-9-2-1 to continue to sit first in the B.C. Division, while the Blades fell to 14-15-1-2 posting three regulation setbacks and an overtime loss over their last four games.

    Thanks to the Blazers strong start, Clouston became the 17^th bench boss in the history of the WHL to pick up a milestone 400^th career regular season win. He picked up the milestone victory on Oct. 25, when the Blazers downed the Royals in Victoria 2-1.

Ryan Hughes had a goal for the Blazers on Friday.

    “It has been really good,” said Clouston. “It is always challenging to have change.

    “I’ve been in one spot for so long, it was 16 years, so it was a big move. It has been very enjoyable right from kind of the first meeting with (Blazers general manager) Matt Bardsley I felt real comfortable. I felt like it was going to be a good spot.

    “Then, I met Donny Moores our president and got the same sense. Ever since I accepted the job, it has been eyes forward and get excited about the opportunity instead of looking in the rear view mirror, and it has been great.”
    As the season has gone on, Clouston was joined on the Blazers staff by his younger brother, Cory, who became a Blazers assistant coach.

    With Friday’s win, Shaun Clouston improved his career regular season coaching record to 411-290-52. He was the head coach of the Tri-City Americans in 2002-03, but was released after 60 games, when the Americans posted a record of 16 wins, 39 losses and five ties.

Connor Zary had a goal and an assist for the Blazers on Friday.

    He joined the Tigers as an assistant coach under Desjardins before the start of the 2003-04 campaign and would spend the next 16 seasons in the Hat.

    Clouston was promoted to associate coach before the start of the 2005-06 campaign. Working with Desjardins, Clouston experienced WHL championship victories with the Tigers in 2004 and 2007.

    Before the start of the 2010-11 season, Clouston took over the role of head coach, when Desjardins departed to become the associate coach of the NHL’s Dallas Stars.

    In August of 2012, Clouston took on the duties as Tigers general manager to go along with his duties as head coach. He held both roles until his separation with the Medicine Hat side.

Max Martin gives the Blazers WHL title winning experience.

    Clouston proceeded to find a comfortable landing spot in Kamloops, and he is enjoying his time in the B.C. centre.

    “It is a great city,” said Clouston. “Obviously, I have visited there a number of times as a coach over the years.

    “I have some good memories of my playing days.”

    One of those memories came when Clouston played in his final season in the WHL back in the 1988-89 campaign as captain of the Portland Winterhawks. In those days, the WHL was a 14-team circuit as opposed to the 22-team circuit of the current day.

    Back in 1988-89, the Winterhawks were part of the six-team West Division, and they played the Blazers frequently.

Captain Zane Franklin gives the Blazers strong leadership.

    In the playoffs, the Winterhawks downed the Blazers in a best-of-nine West Division final 5-3 to advance to the WHL Championship series. In the best-of-seven WHL final, the Winterhawks were swept by the eventual Memorial Cup champion Swift Current Broncos.

    When the Winterhawks eliminated the Blazers in the West Division final, the series clinching win came in Kamloops.

    “I remember coming in the night before,” said Clouston. “I remember going to movies.

    “I remember spending a lot of time in Kamloops. I always thought it was a nice city. I got to spend some time there in August with my family.

    “We did lots of site seeing and hiking and exploring. It is a real nice part of the world.”

Rayce Ramsay made 28 saves in goal for the Blazers on Friday.

    Besides doing some site seeing, Clouston spent some time getting to getting to know the players he was inheriting. He accomplished a lot of that over the phone, but was able to meet some of the players in person too.

    On the ice, the style Clouston’s Blazers play a style that is pretty much a carbon copy of the Tigers teams he oversaw.

    The Blazers like to transition up the ice with speed and skill. Skilled forwards like star centre Connor Zary and left-winger Orrin Centazzo are utilized on the penalty kill with the hope they will be able to create turnovers and score a short-handed tallies to go along with killing off infractions.

Montana Onyebuchi gives the Blazers back end toughness.

    Kamloops has the best penalty kill in the league at 87.6 per cent and has scored the second most short-handed goals at seven.

    “I think we are a team that is growing,” said Clouston. “I think we have some potential.”

    Zary, who is in his 18-year-old campaign, is the Blazers most well-known star, while Clouston added that overage left-winger Ryan Hughes has been a big early season trade pick up from the Blades.

    Clouston said overage captain Zane Franklin has been stellar for the Kamloops side and the Blazers have greatly benefited by picking up overage defenceman Max Martin in an early season trade with the Prince Albert Raiders.

    Martin was a key contributor to helping the Raiders finish first overall in the WHL regular season standings and capture the WHL championship last season.

    “I think we have real good leadership,” said Clouston. “I think Zane Franklin is a guy that is real confident and keeps the guys on task.

    “Max Martin is a guy that he has been through it. He knows how to win. If you watch him play, he is just steady.

Blazers HC Shaun Clouston gives direction to his players.

    “He has patience, he has poise (and) he competes. If there something to be said, he says it. He has been really, really big for us.”

    As for Friday’s game itself, the Blazers broke through at the 6:29 mark of the opening frame, when rookie 17-year-old left-winger Daylan Kuefler snuck a weird angle goal past Blades star netminder Nolan Maier. Kuefler’s goal came on his team’s second shot of the game.

    The Blades evened things up at 1-1 with 4:41 remaining in the second period on a controversial tally. Breaking into the offensive zone down the right wing, Blades winger Tristen Robins toe dragged around a Blazers defenceman and sent a pass to linemate Alex Morozoff.

Daylan Kuefler jets up ice for the Blazers.

    Morozoff directed the puck into the Saskatoon goal with his foot, but the goal stood up after a video review.

    The game didn’t stay on even terms for long. With 1:52 remaining in the third, Centazzo chipped the puck up to Zary.

    Zary, who is a Saskatoon product, got partially in alone on the Saskatoon goal and potted his 20^th tally of the season to give the visitors a 2-1 edge.

    At the 2:48 mark of the third, Hughes collected a high loose puck at the left side of the Saskatoon goal and potted his 14^th tally of the campaign to give Kamloops a 3-1 advantage.

Orrin Centazzo, right, celebrates his short-handed goal.

    Centazzo scored an even-strength tally and a short-handed marker to put the visitors up 5-1.

    Blades right-winger Zach Huber netted the game’s final goal with 1:36 remaining in the third to round out the 5-2 final in the Blazers’ favour.

    Huber also engaged rugged Blazers defenceman Montana Onyebuchi with 11.2 seconds remaining in the third period.

    Zary had an assist to go along with his goal and was a plus-two in the plus-minus department as he played his first game back with the Blazers one day after being cut from make the final roster for Canada’s world junior team.

    Clouston expected Zary to have a big night after being cut by Team Canada.

    “He has responded a bunch of times,” said Clouston. “He has a lot going for him this season, a lot to prove.

    “It is a big year for him, and he is handling it great. He is a competitor. He plays with passion.

    “He shows up and competes every night.”

Blades RW Zach Huber fights Blazers D Montana Onyebuchi.

    Maier stopped 22 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades. Saskatoon product Rayce Ramsay turned away 28 shots to pick up the win in net for the Blazers.

    Ramsay, who is the Blazers backup goalie, picked up his third win of the campaign in seven appearances. Clouston was pleased with how the WHL rookie netminder performed on Friday.

    “He (Ramsay) has a couple of shutouts at home, but he has struggled a little bit on the road,” said Clouston. “He needed this one.

    “We needed him to be good especially early. It was really nice to see him be rewarded. There have been some challenging stretches for him, and it was a big night for him in front of his hometown crowd.”

    The Blazers travel to Prince Albert on Saturday to face the defending WHL champion Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre). 

Quinn Schmiemann controls the puck on the back end for the Blazers.

    That contest will be the Raiders “Teddy Bear Toss” game, so those attending the game in P.A. will be able to throw stuffed toys on the ice when the Raiders score their first goal.

    The Blades return to action on Sunday, when they host the Raiders at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.      That contest will be the Blades “Teddy Bear Toss” game, so those attending the contest in Saskatoon will be able to throw stuffed toys on the ice when the Blades score their first goal.

    The items collected at the “Teddy Bear Toss” games on both centres will be distributed to local hospitals and charities in their respective centres.

    When the Blazers play in Prince Albert, it will be the final stop on a six-game road trip playing all of the WHL’s East Division teams. The Blazers players from Saskatchewan and Alberta have had a large contingent of family and friends following them on this swing.
    While there is still a long way to go in the current campaign, Clouston said the club’s current road swift has been a great team building experience.

The Blazers celebrate their win on Friday night.

    “I think the guys really enjoy it,” said Clouston. “We have lots of friends and family at all the games.

    “I think it gives us a little spark and jump. Sometimes you worry that guys will try to be too fancy or too creative, but no, we’ve done a real good job. The guys are excited to be out here even though it is minus 30 C or whatever it is.

    “They are enjoying it. They are having some fun. It has been a good trip.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.